‘Jersey Shore’ Costs New Jersey Taxpayers $420,000

MTV’s hit reality show, which depicts the exploits of a group of raisin-tanned 20-somethings as they live and party along the New Jersey coastline, has just had $420,000 of its 2009 production costs covered by the state’s Economic Development Authority.

In Seaside Heights, where the show is taped, Mayor P. Kenneth Hershey justified the expense by saying the local economy surges when the cast is in town. But Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon told two local newspapers he doesn’t think taxpayers should be responsible “for fake tanning for ‘Snooki’ and ‘The Situation.”‘

Chances are good it won’t happen again, though. In an effort to close a budget deficit in the Garden State, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie suspended the film tax credit program last year.